A Bold Judiciary Augurs Well for the Nation - 24 Dec 2006

Opinion
A Bold Judiciary
Augurs Well for the Nation
by Maxwell Pereira

Does one sense a kind of boldness in the ranks of the judiciary lately, a boldness that was sadly missing when occasions demanded it earlier?

We do owe our courts a lot. But for the boldness - be it over the eco-friendly compressed natural gas (CNG) which got us better breathing air or the sealing spree where the government was brought to its knees hopefully to usher in some rule of law in matters of urban discipline - things would continue to be in the rut. It does appear that the entire governance per se is dependent today and is leaning heavily on the guts of the judiciary.

In matters of criminal cognizance though, one perceived, till lately, our courts to be timid. Didn't we suffer the ignominy of watching someone accused of murder and known to be a criminal take oath as a member of the nation's parliament?

Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, who wielded influence and flaunted muscle power from within the jail where he was incarcerated, had earlier warranted the Supreme Court to transfer him to Delhi's Tihar jail so that distance and better supervision could control and negate his propensity to rig an impending election, even from within Patna's Beur jail.

It was disgusting and disgraceful to note then that the very same apex court found its hands tied, to mechanically endorse and permit this individual his right to go to parliament and take oath as member, five months after being eligible to do so, because he had been duly elected by the voters of Madhepura - his constituency in Bihar.

I suppose this didn't involve guts, just a helpless interpretation of the nation's laws. But some consolation was the court's recent stand denying him bail and a firm directive not to file such requests any further.

As I see it, the discernible trend started perhaps in Maharashtra with the conviction of a minister and bureaucrats involved in a matter of non-compliance of court orders that led to resignations and jailing - something unthinkable before this really happened.

The latest is the conviction in the Shashinath Jha murder case of Shibu Soren, a minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Closely following this is the conviction of the flamboyant BJP MP Navjyot Singh Sidhu, more popular today as a TV star.

Things were decidedly different not too long ago. I remember a strange scene some of us were witness to at a conference on the criminal justice system organized by the Indian Law Society here in New Delhi in the mid-90s. A spirited young police officer from Punjab then working in CBI had made bold to express how most of the judiciary in Punjab had capitulated and abdicated their judicial functions when Sikh terrorism ran riot.

The magistracy at whatever levels could find their voice again, the officer postulated, only to castigate police officers who had actually controlled terrorism once it was subdued by sheer dint and courage of the then police management in the state.

The officer was forced to withdraw his statement when faced with the intimidating tenor of the dignitary chairing the session - a former chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. This gentleman took umbrage at the officer's direct accusation and challenged him with a "if you withdraw your statement, I will chose to ignore that you ever made it" kind of a threat.

But there were other instances too, not necessarily terrorism related, when judiciary was found lacking - viewed as too timid to take on the powerful, more particularly politicians in power.

The might of the legal fraternity is another that has always challenged and defied judicial boldness. Early in my service career I remember a murder accused lawyer who secured bail within 24 hours of arrest thanks to his cronies barging into the magistrate's courtroom determined to get him to sign on the dotted line.

There are instances when judiciary has exhibited reluctance to take on the lawyers including when members of the bar on strike ransacked the courtrooms in Delhi High Court and abused the justices. The police had to be called in to save the day - strangely without Delhi Police being asked to take cognizance of the matter.

And there is the case not too long ago of the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, when even the apex court after holding him guilty ended up merely sentencing him "till the rising of the court".

Yes. Things are changing today -- for the better. It is indeed heartening that the errant criminal politician is being brought to book, even if it is a case of delayed justice. Is it public sentiment that is providing fillip to judicial boldness? Perhaps!

(Maxwell Periera is a former joint commissioner of Delhi Police. He can be reached at mfjpkamath@gmail.com)

December 24, 2006

061219: TheIndependentUK-Politician'sSonGuilty

Politician's son is finally found guilty of killing waitress who ...

A former Delhi police officer, Maxwell Pereira, said the order showed the road to justice for many others. "The voice of lesser people has been heard, ...
www.independent.co.uk/news/.../politicians-son-is-finally-found-guilty-of-killing-waitress-who-refused-him-drink-429180.ht... - 66k - Cached

Politician's son is finally found guilty of killing waitress who refused him drink
By Jerome Taylor
Tuesday, 19 December 2006
In a sensational climax to one of India's most notorious murder cases, the High Court in Delhi has found the son of a Indian politician guilty of shooting dead a waitress in a high society bar after she refused to serve him a drink after closing time.
Manu Sharma, whose father is a wealthy member of the government's ruling Congress coalition, was found guilty in Delhi High Court after more than seven years of judicial wrangling in a case that many felt showed how India's legal system was weighted in favour of the rich.
Jessica Lall, 34, a part-time model, was tending the bar at an exclusive party in Delhi. She was shotin front of host of socialites, bureaucrats and even police officials in 1999 because she would not serve Sharma. According to the prosecution, Sharma took out a pistol and said "I will do it my way," before shooting once in the air and then firing a single bullet at Ms Lall.
But the prosecution's case fell apart during the first trial when a key witness, the budding actor Shayan Munshi, retracted a statement linking Sharma to the shooting.
That prompted text message and e-mail campaigns for the case to be reopened, with one television news station delivering a petition to the president signed by more than 200,000 people. The city's police chief ordered an inquiry in March into claims of collusion between his officers and the accused.
A week later, senior policemen appealed against the acquittal at Delhi's High Court. A former Delhi police officer, Maxwell Pereira, said the order showed the road to justice for many others. "The voice of lesser people has been heard, above all the political influences, all the nexus of various players," he said.
Sharma is the son of Venod Sharma, a former federal minister from the northern state of Haryana. The decision came as India's courts seemed to be flexing muscles with a series of verdicts against high-profile defendants in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, the coal minister, Shibu Soren, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a former aide. The opposition politician and former international cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu was sentenced to three years in jail for a road-rage killing which happened 18 years ago.
And in another retrial accelerated because of public pressure, the lawyer son of a former police officer was sentenced to death in October for the 1996 rape and murder of Priyadarshini Mattoo, a law student, seven years after he was acquitted.
Jessica's sister, Sabrina, who led the campaign to charge Sharma, said: "We are missing our family at the moment ¬ mom, dad and Jessica included, and knowing that wherever they are, they are finally at peace. " Jessica's mother died soon after Sharma was given bail at the start of the trial and her father died this year.
The sentence will be announced tomorrow.

Beggar Mafias!

By Maxwell Pereira :
From: MaxOpinion@googlegroups.com : 15.08.2006

The Delhi Government under chief secretary Shailaja Chandra was the
only time when some serious effort was made to tackle effectively the
beggar menace in the national capital. The social welfare department
whose baby it is to manage beggars had utterly failed despite a law on
anti-beggary and adequate beggar homes in position for incarceration
and rehabilitation, and police backup available at the drop of a hat
when sought. No amount of court interventions and High Court directives
had helped either.

Then on 24 September 2002, the Delhi High Court again directed Delhi
administration to clear the capital city of beggars and hawkers as they
`obstruct the smooth flow of traffic'. The order came in response to a
public interest litigation (PIL) petition that described beggars and
homeless people as the `ugly face of the nation's capital' and as
people who, among other things, caused `road rage'.

Taking cue from the High Court, Ms Chandra latched on to me as the
city's then traffic chief to come up with a workable plan that could
rid our road junctions of beggars. While I had nothing in the
'traffic' arsenal to target beggars, the traffic police could
definitely target those vehicle owners and drivers who patronized
begging and vending on the road - and that's what we did by
invoking the powers to issue direction to regulate road traffic etc -
to ban giving of alms and vending activity at road junctions under pain
of fine. The Traffic Police notification provided for the imposition of
a fine on motorists who gave money to beggars or bought things from
vendors at road junctions.

This was seen as an aggressive approach against beggary. And I was
quoted critically as how beggary is a menace that "flourishes with
impunity in the streets of Delhi much to the disgust, distaste and
horror of the community at large. The first thing every tourist learns
about India is that it is a land of beggars."

I am an avid supporter of the NGO movement and find laudable the work
they do in varied areas of deprivation and discrimination. But the
effective enforcement of the new rule was pinching and not palatable to
the NGOs working in the field of street children. The entire NGO world
descended on me like a ton of bricks. I was constrained to pick up the
gauntlet to face the tirade against the traffic police move, and face
the NGO music in different fora - panel discussions, conferences and
jan-sunwaiis. The plight of those deprived of their livelihood by my
merciless act of sweeping them off the road with a draconian law was
thrashed threadbare - under intense media scrutiny.

The people of Delhi though, strongly approved our move and stood by us.
The result, within days Delhi's roads were clean of beggars, enough
even to attract the international media to carry India's this step
against beggars to their own distant lands across continents and
oceans.

As part of the debate while facing the NGO onslaught, when I insisted
that there was a vested interest commercialising beggary through
maiming and dismemberment of victims kidnapped or recruited for the
purpose, an old Delhi Police crime branch study was waved in my face
claiming that the study did not find any role of criminals or mafia
operating behind begging in Delhi. Delhi Police's inability to expose
the mafia content behind beggary was used by Indu Prakash Singh, the
director of Ashray Adhikaar Abhiyan to defend beggar community as a
"distressed people" and that the police should decriminalize
begging - especially since "people do not beg out of choice, but
out of compulsion. How can the government say it is an organized
crime?"

I am sure there is a vast segment of beggars who fall in the category
described by the NGOs as "distressed people". But I firmly believed
in the existence of beggar mafias that exploit and commercialise the
Indians' tendency to gain punya by giving alms. That crime syndicates
working behind begging do exist. And no doubt a large number of people
are brought into Delhi for begging. I also remember reading how
Professor BB Pande of Delhi University's Law Faculty was then quoted
saying there were seven gangs who controlled organized begging in the
city.

True, the criminal mafia character behind beggary needed more attention
of the police, even while the infrastructure created within social
welfare department needed to have been put to adequate and effective
use to fight the beggar menace sincerely. Given the pressures and list
of priorities the police are saddled with, that beggars do not come
anywhere near the top priority should not surprise anyone.

Even so, the gory expose over the weekend by the CNN-IBN TV channel of
a beggar-doctor mafia is incomprehensible. That a beggar mafia exists
and it tortures and maims people to make them beg. And there are
doctors too who help the mafia by amputating the limbs of healthy
people. The channel claimed there are more than 12,000 handicapped
beggars in Delhi alone. And it is doctors like the ones they captured
on sting camera that help the beggar mafia to mutilate, terrorise and
live off the beggars of the city - a fact, confirmed by beggars
themselves.

In the absence of an aggrieved complainant and "an act in furtherance
of the stated intention" it is unfortunate that the 'exposed'
doctors are likely to go scot free... infuriating even further and
shocking people's conscience more. Much sensation, that is all the
channel has achieved. Had it consulted its own legal advisors how to go
about it so the perpetrators could be effectively punished, perhaps the
expose could have been better handled. But then the channel has
achieved its objective of ratings. The rest of course, they expect, is
up to the police - with or without evidence!

By Maxwell Pereira
From: MaxOpinion@googlegroups.com : 15.08.2006

--------------------------------------------------------

A Soldier Died Today

A SOLDIER DIED TODAY....true of our country as well..

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.

And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew whereof he spoke.

But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For ol' Bob has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a soldier died today.

He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his passing,
'tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories
>From the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Some jerk who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country
And offers up his life?

The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.

It's so easy to forget them,
For it is so many times,
That our Bobs and Jims
Went to battle, but we still pine.

It was not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our Country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand,

Or would you want a Soldier,
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end?

He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline
in the paper that might say:
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."

sent in by D.R.Kartikeyan (IPS retd): New Delhi/ India: 06.08.2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------

WELL DONE, British Airways

WELL DONE, BRITISH AIRWAYS!
This scene took place on a BA flight between Johannesburg, South Africa and London, England.
A white woman, about 50 years old, was seated next to a black man. Obviously disturbed by this, she called the air hostess.
"You obviously do not see it then?" she responded. "You placed me next to a black man. I do not agree to sit next to someone from such a repugnant group. Give me an alternative seat."
"Be calm please," the hostess replied. "Almost all the places on this flight are taken but I will go to see if another place is available."
The hostess went away and then came back a few minutes later.
"Madam, just as I thought, there are no other available seats in the Economy Class. I spoke to the captain and he informed me that there is also no seat in the Business Class. All the same, we still have one place in the First Class."
Before the woman could say anything, the hostess continued.
"It is not usual for our company to permit someone from the Economy Class to sit in First Class. However, given the circumstances, the captain feels that it would be scandalous to make someone sit next to someone sooooo disgusting."
She turned to the black guy, and said, "Therefore, Sir, if you would like to, please collect your hand luggage, a seat awaits you in First Class."
At that moment, the other passengers, who'd been shocked by what they had just witnessed, stood up and applauded.
This is a true story. If you are against racism, do share this with all your friends.....
WELL DONE, British Airways
....sent in by Ronnie D'Souza : Bangalore/ India: 05.08.2006
--------------------------------------------------

Beggar Mafias!

By Maxwell Pereira

The Delhi Government under chief secretary Shailaja Chandra was the only time when some serious effort was made to tackle effectively the beggar menace in the national capital. The social welfare department whose baby it is to manage beggars had utterly failed despite a law on anti-beggary and adequate beggar homes in position for incarceration and rehabilitation, and police backup available at the drop of a hat when sought. No amount of court interventions and High Court directives had helped either.

Then on 24 September 2002, the Delhi High Court again directed Delhi administration to clear the capital city of beggars and hawkers as they `obstruct the smooth flow of traffic'. The order came in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that described beggars and homeless people as the `ugly face of the nation's capital' and as people who, among other things, caused `road rage'.

Taking cue from the High Court, Ms Chandra latched on to me as the city’s then traffic chief to come up with a workable plan that could rid our road junctions of beggars. While I had nothing in the ‘traffic’ arsenal to target beggars, the traffic police could definitely target those vehicle owners and drivers who patronized begging and vending on the road – and that’s what we did by invoking the powers to issue direction to regulate road traffic etc - to ban giving of alms and vending activity at road junctions under pain of fine. The Traffic Police notification provided for the imposition of a fine on motorists who gave money to beggars or bought things from vendors at road junctions.

This was seen as an aggressive approach against beggary. And I was quoted critically as how beggary is a menace that "flourishes with impunity in the streets of Delhi much to the disgust, distaste and horror of the community at large. The first thing every tourist learns about India is that it is a land of beggars."

I am an avid supporter of the NGO movement and find laudable the work they do in varied areas of deprivation and discrimination. But the effective enforcement of the new rule was pinching and not palatable to the NGOs working in the field of street children. The entire NGO world descended on me like a ton of bricks. I was constrained to pick up the gauntlet to face the tirade against the traffic police move, and face the NGO music in different fora – panel discussions, conferences and jan-sunwaiis. The plight of those deprived of their livelihood by my merciless act of sweeping them off the road with a draconian law was thrashed threadbare - under intense media scrutiny.

The people of Delhi though, strongly approved our move and stood by us. The result, within days Delhi’s roads were clean of beggars, enough even to attract the international media to carry India’s this step against beggars to their own distant lands across continents and oceans.

As part of the debate while facing the NGO onslaught, when I insisted that there was a vested interest commercialising beggary through maiming and dismemberment of victims kidnapped or recruited for the purpose, an old Delhi Police crime branch study was waved in my face claiming that the study did not find any role of criminals or mafia operating behind begging in Delhi. Delhi Police’s inability to expose the mafia content behind beggary was used by Indu Prakash Singh, the director of Ashray Adhikaar Abhiyan to defend beggar community as a “distressed people” and that the police should decriminalize begging – especially since “people do not beg out of choice, but out of compulsion. How can the government say it is an organized crime?"

I am sure there is a vast segment of beggars who fall in the category described by the NGOs as “distressed people”. But I firmly believed in the existence of beggar mafias that exploit and commercialise the Indians’ tendency to gain punya by giving alms. That crime syndicates working behind begging do exist. And no doubt a large number of people are brought into Delhi for begging. I also remember reading how Professor BB Pande of Delhi University’s Law Faculty was then quoted saying there were seven gangs who controlled organized begging in the city.

True, the criminal mafia character behind beggary needed more attention of the police, even while the infrastructure created within social welfare department needed to have been put to adequate and effective use to fight the beggar menace sincerely. Given the pressures and list of priorities the police are saddled with, that beggars do not come anywhere near the top priority should not surprise anyone.

Even so, the gory expose over the weekend by the CNN-IBN TV channel of a beggar-doctor mafia is incomprehensible. That a beggar mafia exists and it tortures and maims people to make them beg. And there are doctors too who help the mafia by amputating the limbs of healthy people. The channel claimed there are more than 12,000 handicapped beggars in Delhi alone. And it is doctors like the ones they captured on sting camera that help the beggar mafia to mutilate, terrorise and live off the beggars of the city – a fact, confirmed by beggars themselves.

In the absence of an aggrieved complainant and “an act in furtherance of the stated intention” it is unfortunate that the ‘exposed’ doctors are likely to go scot free… infuriating even further and shocking people’s conscience more. Much sensation, that is all the channel has achieved. Had it consulted its own legal advisors how to go about it so the perpetrators could be effectively punished, perhaps the expose could have been better handled. But then the channel has achieved its objective of ratings. The rest of course, they expect, is up to the police - with or without evidence!

31.07.2006: 950 words: Copyright © Maxwell Pereira:
Available at: http://www. maxwellpereira.com and mfjpkamath@gmail.com

Comments

jennifer arul : Jakarta-Indonesia/ Malaysia/ Chennai : 01.08.2006
Interesting piece....if the cops in other states could take a leaf out of your book it would be nice!!

Did u know about IndiaTopCops?

By Maxwell Pereira

Not many know about the exclusive discussion forum on the web for senior police officers – IndiaTopCops@YahooGroups.com. Not even most cops! In fact, even though I could be excused as an ex-cop, I myself had no clue to its existence before I was invited recently by its moderator Nandkumar Saravade to join this forum. Saravade who is running this exclusive group with over 350 members now, is an active police officer with nearly 20 years in the IPS - currently on deputation to NASSCOM.

The IndiaTopCops forum is a free and easy-to-use service to send and receive group messages, coordinate events, share photos and files, and more. It provides a platform to the young and the old still serving – the raw and the seasoned; and others retired who are never tired but just re-tyred yet again ready for more miles to roll on with their instructional pearls and repertoire of educational yarns and experience. It is an electronic meeting place to participate and share, and provide insights to group members on this forum; meant to enable police officers to keep in touch, learn from each other, discuss matters of professional interest, post articles on new trends in policing with focus on technology, and examine governance issues facing the police service. All with the hope that it would evolve sooner than later into a vibrant online community determined to make a change for the better.

Much as IndiaTopCops is a dynamic and vibrant interactive arena for the still serving, it is no less a learning field for forgotten seniors to keep abreast of latest trends and developments in contemporary thought and events. And especially for the ignoramus often stricken by the pox of the ‘blissfully ignorant’ and yet with a tendency to think we are the ultimate – the know-alls on everything – unlike the diligent learner for whom it is never too late to learn more. It is only the latter who realises with each new day, how little we know and how much more there is to know! So IndiaTopCops is pleasantly for has-beens like me too, irrespective of the miles already trudged and traversed, affording a new learning ground with life’s each new step.

In the short span of my own exposure to IndiaTopCops forum and its archives of messages, files and folders, I am fascinated by the variety of topics covered, the level of intellectual debate generated, the quality of discussion and learning, the opportunity to read from those more knowledgeable, to offer, participate and debate one’s own point of view.

Topics ranging from (…to name just a few) Police Vision 2010-2020, developments and status of ongoing efforts at Police Reforms, reforms in the Criminal Justice Administration and Delivery System, the recent Plea Bargaining debut in India, and Trial by Media; on Police Systems and prevailing varied practices despite the unifying Police Act of 1861, guidelines for Public Private Partnership, the phenomenon of Burking, and Corruption; narco-analysis in investigation, ‘forensic nursing’ for ‘victim support’; on Information Forensics – the flip sides and requirements of law for Police Blogs – their merits, demerits, advantages and limitations; aspects of cyber crime, the mobile revolution in India, tracking criminals through cellphones; vehicle tracking devices; on ‘bandhs’ and ‘hartals’, money laundering, the naxal menace, even illegal sex selection for female foeticide; and importantly, the topic of the day – terrorism, the Mumbai blasts discussed and analysed threadbare, the defence of the ‘Intelligence’ community, especially the role of the National Security Advisor unjustly and irrationally attacked in the media.

Fascinating also, to experience the breaking of boundaries and hierarchical barriers between seniors and juniors, the superior and the subordinate – to enable free and frank flow of thought in a conducive non-intimidating environment. Reflects Prof Arvind Verma, “This is in sharp contrast to the earlier period when we had difficulty in even communicating with senior police officers. Now that this wall has come down in the virtual sphere, hope it will bring down the walls existing in the real world of Indian police and bureaucracy”.

Elaborates Nandkumar the initiator of the forum, “The dynamics of virtual groups are fascinating; a feature that catches one's attention, is the level playing field available to all. Nothing else matters than the ability to articulate one's opinions in a clear, logical and concise manner. An ideal way to overcome constraints of hierarchy, especially in a country like ours which has seen stifling social stratification for hundreds of years”

Veteran Dr. S.Subramanian finds the Topcop forum highly educative, the views expressed by young officers refreshing. He feels it is necessary for the police fraternity to set “our own house in order”, which we can do ourselves without outside support. In this context, he welcomes the discussions on internal organisational infirmities. He too bemoans the fact that very few young officers are aware of Topcop.

Already dubbed one of the most promising developments in Indian policing scenario, IndiaTopCops reflects the positive transformation in the police services with many inductees coming in as technocrats with professional qualifications impacting with their fresh perspectives. They lend a new dimension to police work, initiating well conceived and impressive projects with lofty objectives suggestive of venturing out of the beaten path. An opinion also expressed, that “some of the distilled wisdom of seniors and super seniors is flowing into and influencing younger copminds”. “All this augurs well for the Indian police where bold innovative thinking is required”.

IndiaTopCops completed one year of its existence last weekend – cause to celebrate and raise a toast. One can see it is well on its way to become the voice of police leadership in the country – mandarins in the ministries that shape destinies would do well to note.

July 25, 2006: 950 words: Copy Right © Maxwell Pereira:
web: www.maxwellpereira.com
--------------------------------------------------

Comments

Shefali Gupta : shefali.gupta@gmail.com : New Delhi/India: 26.07.2006
Glad to hear about this excellent forum.
I was searching for a way to reach some music (devoted to good cops, produced by Blaaze)
and also invite cops interested in Clean Delhi and a Womens radio program etc

D.R.Kartikeyan (IPS retd) : karthi@bol.net.in : Delhi/ India: 26.07.2006
Many thanks for your frequent, brilliant write-ups.....particularly the piece, " Did you Know about India Top Cops"?.
Infact I did not know about this interesting development......
I admire your energy, interest and felicity of the language.God Bless You!

Prabhsharan S. Kang : pskang@vsnl.com : Delhi/ India: 27.07.2006
I didn’t know about this group and cannot have any link, but this is a positive development and maybe even inevitable because the younger the age group, the higher is the computer/net literacy. (......you are an exception, with few Indian officials of our vintage being computer literate – even if they sat with computers in their rooms for years.)
See if this forum could work out practical ways of bringing the public closer to the police. To make it worthwhile, one always has to first introspect, then strategise and act/communicate.
The UP IAS officers’ anti-corruption movement is another good precedent that could be refined and widened. If the civil service/s act as a group or as several constructive groups, they can expedite reforms in other categories and help our nation achieve its potential much faster.
Sounds like a sermon, sorry, but this can be exciting.

Woman on Top

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Not Home Sex-test Kits please

By Maxwell Pereira

The unholy spectre of Illegal sex selection to prevent or destroy female offspring – at the pre-conception stage or the pre-natal, just doesn’t seem to stop haunting us. Even as the country is battling to remedy its skewed female to male sex ratio, we are confronted with newer onslaughts through technology driven procedures available in different parts of the world, which the warped Indian brain is quick to learn about and adapt to its situation and ulterior motives. All in an effort to circumvent existing laws prohibiting sex selection for purpose of eliminating the very possibility of a girl child being born.

In early July the Indian news media stumbled on to the increasing practice among Indian parents to access through Internet facilities available in the USA that guaranteed a male issue even at the pre-conception stage. A process based on PGD - the preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or the ICSI - Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection technique that could make sex determination of the child possible at the conception level by taking one healthy sperm for fertilisation of the egg with freedom to chose Y over X chromosome. New techniques developed in America, which combined the spectacular advances in molecular genetics and assisted reproductive technology (ART) – to enable physicians to identify genetic diseases in the embryo, prior to implantation, before the pregnancy is established.

But PGD was developed for patients – especially those resorting to intrauterine insemination or In Vitro Fertilization, who were at risk of having children with serious genetic disorders, such as haemophilia, which often discouraged them having their own biological children. In genuine cases, PGD also offered parents to balance their family with equal number of girl and boy children.

For the Indian community in America though, this technique came handy to perpetuate even while on alien soil their ancient prejudices. The obsession for son preference against a background of patriarchal social framework (to carry the family name forward, support in old age and for performing last rites); the girl child invariably relegated to secondary status being ultimately ‘paraya dhan’ leading to economic considerations arising out of the tag on daughters as a liability translating into the curse of dowry, etc. Prejudices, under bizarre conditions that conspired to promote female foeticide! They latched on to PGD as a godsend, to eventually tutor and educate their kith and kin back home in India too.

Quick on the uptake to realise its commercial potential, websites of fly-by-nite operators sprung up in the US offering the facility to Indian couples across the globe – and true to form with enough gullible or eager Indians to bite the bait for dubious use at this end. Websites like www.meditest.com, Tell Me Pink or Blue, GenSelect and www.babyzendormentor.com which rural Punjabis quickly transformed to jantarmantar, and so on – offering home pregnancy kits for a dollar price translating to around Rs.15,000 or less. Facilities to pack a blood sample to a lab in the US to know the baby’s gender in a few days.

Protagonists of sex selection attempt to justify the practice claiming gender selection has been a quest of couples for as far back as recorded history allows. That drawings from prehistoric times suggest our earliest ancestors were investigating sex selection efforts. Of evidence in later history too of intense interest in sex selection by early Asian (Chinese), Egyptian and Greek cultures, followed by documented scientific efforts beginning in the 1600's to sway chances of achieving a pregnancy by a variety of methods. Finally, about research and work carried out in the 1980's and 90's providing possible methods for obtaining a desired pregnancy gender outcome ranging from excellent to the virtually guaranteed.

But they are criminally remiss though of ignoring the impact of the declining sex ratio. That it reflects gross discrimination against one sex within society, confirming that in India girls are less wanted. That the practice demeans women by looking on daughters as a burden because of the dowry to be paid for them and because any investment in them – for their nutrition, education, health, general well-being etc will not help the natal family’s future security.

The increasing deficit of girls is also creating a social imbalance within society, with pockets in the country where very few girls are born. Resulting in no brides for the burgeoning son population, with the prospect of having to import girls from other regions of the country. Resulting in social problems of purchasing young girls from poor regions, women treated as commodities, contributing to further fall in their status in society. This can only lead to further exploitation and abuse of women, violence against them, increased trafficking and sex trade, and re-emergence of practices like polyandry. Letting the cycle of discrimination and gender inequities to continue, fuelled now by newer and more accurate technologies for sex selection.

Alarmed over this latest threat, the Union Health Ministry has addressed the Ministry of Information Technology through the Home Ministry to initiate measures to ban or block these websites. The exact implications and the dimensions of the impact on Indian society of this new menace need study. Especially when the battle is on against the nation-wide plague of illegal sex selection through the ultrasound facility – that throws up gory cases of the Patran type with scores of aborted foetuses in doctors’ backyard wells!

While the new threats would need the attention of the expert medical fraternity to suggest an appropriate course of action, the aspect of effecting dollar payment over internet, or through relatives abroad, would also need to be looked into. There is need for the Ministries of Science & Technology, of Communications and Information Technology, of Finance and Revenue (Income Tax) to be sensitive to the issue and be involved.

16.07.2006: Copyright © Maxwell Pereira:
Website: http://www. maxwellpereira.com ; email: mfjpkamath@gmail.com

2006- Maxwell Pereira in Wikipedia (Muppet Wiki)

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Maxwell Pereira
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Maxwell Pereira (b. 1944), born Maxwell Pereirakamath, plays Col. Albert Pinto, a human street resident in the new Indian version of Sesame Street, Galli Galli Sim Sim.
Pereira, playing a retired military man, is himself a former long-serving and well-known member of the elite Indian Police Service. He has held multiple positions in different parts of India, as the first Superintendent of Police for Sikkim, as the Assistant Inspector General of Police in Mizoram , and as the chief of police of the erstwhile French pocket turned state in South India - Pondicherry. The majority of his service career was spent in Delhi - India's capital city state, where he held important positions ranging from assistant commissioner in 1972 to Joint Commissioner of Police, a post he vacated in 2004. Variously known as the "Thinking Policeman" and the "High Profile Cop" of the Delhi Police, Pereira remained the known "face of Delhi Police" nationally and internationally, having often served as spokesperson for the police department at the local and the national level. He has also been involved heavily in international police programs.
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Category: International Sesame Street Actors